Bencivengo case witness identified

As federal prosecutors pursue their case against Mayor John Bencivengo on extortion charges, they will be relying heavily on the assistance of a cooperating witness who recorded conversations in which the mayor allegedly solicited bribes in exchange for help in securing a contract with the Hamilton Township School District.

Sources identify this cooperating witness as Marliese Ljuba, and her firm as Vineland-based Allen Associates.

A woman answering the phone at Allen Associates Thursday said Ljuba, who also uses the first name Maria, wasn’t in the office. Ljuba didn’t return a message left on her cell phone or a request for comment made to an email address listed on the Allen website, which says she is a senior health benefits consultant.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to confirm or deny the identity of the witness.

A search of federal court records shows Ljuba has not been charged with any crimes in connection with the Bencivengo probe.

Though not much is known about Ljuba, in an interview conducted earlier this week, Richard Allen, president of the company, confirmed that Ljuba “handled Hamilton Board of Education plans” for the firm but said he had no knowledge of any investigation.

He didn’t return a call for comment Thursday.

Court documents say that Ljuba, identified as “cooperating witness” or “CW,” was instrumental in winning the contract from the school district in 2006.

As the district’s broker, Ljuba made recommendations to the district on health insurance carriers and negotiated premium renewal rates.

For these services, Allen Associates, identified in court documents only as the “Insurance Broker,” received a yearly commission. Ljuba received a portion of that.

District Board of Education President Patricia DelGiudice referred questions to superintendent James Parla, who said the district would “cooperate fully” in any investigation.

He declined to immediately release information about the district’s contract with Allen Associates and asked a reporter to submit a request under the state’s Open Public Records Act.

Ljuba was first licensed as an insurance broker in New Jersey in November of 1992 and has worked with three other firms during her tenure in the state, according to Marshall McKnight, a spokesman for the state Department of Banking and Insurance.

Neither she nor Allen Associates — which its website said was founded in 1960 and received its license in March of 1991 — has ever had any enforcement action brought against them by the department, McKnight said.

He declined to confirm or deny that the department was investigating either of them.

Hamilton school board member Jeff Hewitson on Thursday said he was “shocked” when he learned Bencivengo was charged with taking $12,400 in bribes to influence the Hamilton Township Board of Education to renew its insurance brokerage contract with Allen Associates.

Hewitson said he tried to persuade the school board to put insurance brokerage contracts out to a public bid following the 2010 indictment of former Toms River Superintendent Michael Ritacco for taking bribes from the Toms River School District’s insurance broker.

“I’ve been out in front of that to put it out to public bid,” Hewitson said. “That’s the way it should be, because it’s fully transparent and it would save the district a lot of money. I’ve been in favor of that for a long time.”

“If we go to a flat fee where we deal directly with the broker, we could prevent any misuse of monies,” Hewitson said. “You could save the district between $4 million and $5 million a year. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?”

Bencivengo’s personal attorney, Jerome Ballarotto, also represented Ritacco, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to receiving more than $1 million in bribes over a long period of time.

Allen Associates has done work for large insurance companies including Aetna and Independence Blue Cross, according to its website.

Closer to home, it has a brokerage contract with Robbinsville Township for the past few years, according to Mayor David Fried.

Fried, in an interview, said that Ljuba, who represented the firm, “had the best rates.”

“From a service point she did a great job,” he added. “Our staff liked her because she provided great service.”

Fried also said that he had never been solicited by Ljuba as part of any type of illicit transaction.

Both Ljuba, who lives in Delaware, and Allen Associates have a history of donating to New Jersey Republicans.